Electronic media is becoming increasingly popular compared to traditional paper media, particularly as more people utilize computers and mobile communication devices such as Smartphones to send and receive information. Certain types of information including audio data, however, have inherent limitations due to the nature of the data and the manner in which the data is presented to a user. For example, the content and user experience provided by presentation of audio data can be limiting due to the user only being able to listen to audio data rather than using other senses. These limitations may result in less effective conveyance of the message within the audio data to the user and diminished user experience.
One example of known audio data is in the form of an audio book, which is a recorded reading of a book by another person. The reading can be recorded to a Compact Disc (CD) or downloaded from a website and played back with an audio player such as a CD player or mp3 player. A user can listen to an audio book while engaging in various activities and while at various locations, e.g., while driving an automobile, exercising or while on an airplane. Book-related data may also be in the form of an e-book that is normally displayed on and ready by a user with a portable e-book reader such as KINDLE available form Amazon, eReader available from Barnes & Noble or a mobile communication device such as a Smartphone having e-book capabilities. E-book readers may be used to download e-books from a website or database hosting e-books. Text of an e-book can be adapted for audio presentation by converting the text into speech, which can be played to the user of the portable e-book reader or Smartphone.
Users can also download a non-streamed webcast or podcast to a user computer, a mobile communication device such as a Smartphone or mobile computing device such as an IPOD, IPHONE, IPAD, which may also be capable of wireless or cellular communications. With a podcast, a list of audio files is maintained at a server as a web feed, and a user utilizes software to access the web feed and may store the files locally to the user's computing device so that the user can listen to the audio at a later time. A user may also download or purchase mp3 or compressed audio files that can be played with mp3 or other audio players or computing devices such as such as IPODs.
While devices and audio data formats such as audio books, e-books and e-readers, mp3 files, podcasts and other types of audio data and audio players have greatly expanded how audio content is delivered to users, the experience of the users is still limited since listening to audio can be monotonous as a result of the singular dimension of the information presented and lack of engagement of other senses. Further, the convenience of certain types of audio data and audio players comes at a price of not being able to view images related to the audio data and that may be very informative since “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
For example, a professor may record a class lecture and make the recorded lecture available for download as an audio podcast. While the recorded lecture may suffice for certain subject matter, the lecture may have involved presentation of charts, graphs and images. Thus, an audio podcast, while informative, does not capture all of the content of the lecture due to the absence of charts, graphs and images. For this reason, the professor may have to prepare and upload a separate presentation with the charts and graphs discussed during the lecture, e.g. in the form of a POWERPOINT presentation. Students, however, may or may not be able to view the POWERPOINT presentation and are nevertheless required to search through and follow the lecture with a separate document, which is not convenient. Similar issues apply in different environments including an office environment in which presentations are made to prospective clients and co-workers.